As well as criticism levelled in the press for de-accessioning, bloggers were yesterday posting stories about the ‘Kennington Quarters’ re-development scheme, and asking questions about the Foundation’s accounts.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2007.
Please read Kate Catleugh’s open letter in which she acknowledges that the removal of the Morris collection may not be a good thing for Walthamstow, and that Walthamstow is neither accessible nor inviting enough for this collection. She also backs up campaigners claims that the Council’s new regime will put the collection in jeopardy. Please see the letter, it’s available here as a Word document.The plans to re-house 70% of the William Morris Collection in South London is part of a larger plan to develop the ‘Kennington Quarter’Other LinksSee other local links questioning the De Morgan Foundation’s interest.
See the article by Tristram Hunt the G2 section of today’s Guardian, entitled ‘A jewel of democracy’The last paragraph reads:“…we must guard against the philistines intent on dismantling our progressive inheritance - and few are currently quite so brazen in this regard as the Labour councillors (Labour councillors!) of Waltham Forest in London who are trying to flog off the superb William Morris Gallery.”
Read an article in Londonist ‘Save William Morris Gallery’.
See Fiona MacCarthy article about The William Morris Gallery Spirit of the box-tickers in the National Guardian (09/10/2007) and the following letters page.
BBC correspondant Ramaa Sharma reports from Friday’s meeting where the Council put forward plans to possibly move the William Morris collection, there’s also a video interview between Mark Hampson, resident artists at William Morris Gallery and Cllr Geraldine Reardon, the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Arts and Culture.
Local arts group - antiscrap - are meeting at Vestry House Museum on Thursday 18 October, 7pm to discuss what next for the dire state of cultural services in Waltham Forest. Please see a PDF of their flyer for more information.Vestry House MuseumVestry RoadWalthamstow E17 9NHTel: 020 8509 1917
The William Morris Gallery warmly invites you to participate in a community arts project as part of this year’s national Big Draw 2007.
Saturday 20 October: 10.30-12.30 and 2.30-4.30‘Utopias’ is the theme for this family drawing event at the gallery, led by local artist Mark Hampson. Suitable for children and adults, it will be an imaginative exploration of ideal worlds and how to make them real through art. William Morris’s own Utopia, called ‘Nowhere’ in his novel ‘News from Nowhere’, is a community in which everyone is equal and the environment is cherished. Can you draw a modern version? Can you imagine an ideal Waltham Forest?Saturday 27 October: 10.30 - 12.30 and 2.30 - 4.30‘Drawing your own theme park’ is the third family drawing event. Mark Hampson will take ideas from his exhibition at the Gallery, which is all about an imagined Victorian theme park of the 1880s, located in Lloyd Park. There are elephants and clowns - and everyone (including children) wears a beard… But what would your own theme park contain? And where would you place it?Come and draw the world you’d like to see - or even the world you’d hate to see! - at these Saturday events. All ages and abilities welcome. Free - All art materials provided. Call the gallery for more info 020 8527 3782
In a rather strange meeting, last night Waltham Forest Council unveilled tentative plans for the future of The William Morris Gallery. The Waltham Forest paper is running several stories on the issue.In brief, Kate Catleugh from the De Morgan Foundation put forward a proposal for the creation of a Museum for Arts & Crafts at the Beaufoy Institute in Lambeth, this would display approximately 70% of the William Morris collection from Walthamstow, the collection would rotate between here and William Morris Gallery. Cllr Reardon said that the William Morris Gallery would combine temporary rotating exhits of the work of William Morris with a contemporary arts programme, she spoke of broadening access to local people.They would not confirm whether or not the opening hours at William Morris would still only be part time. It was not confirmed how they would promote, manage and invest in the future of a contemporary programme and a specialist Morris programme when they have made the current curator redundant and don’t plan to employ one for either roles…. perhaps they do not understand or respect the role of a curator.Cllr Reardon tried to assure the crowd that Waltham Forest Council held the William Morris Gallery very dear to their hearts and that their aim was to keep it open, vital and accessible, though again, she would not specify how this would happen. Cllr Reardon insisted these plans were being put forward for comments, so please be vocal with comments and suggestsions.Concerns were raised that Kate Catleugh had previously sold off part of the De Morgan collection to raise funds for their current premisis, Kate replied by saying that the works sold were not by the De Morgans, they were not obliged to display them and that the resulting poor sale was not because they managed the sale badly, flooding the market - but because the sale took place 3 months after September 11 2001.The floor was opened for questions, they were many questions put to the Cllr’s but answers were vague. Several people asked Cllr Reardon if they had considered the plans put forward by Katherine Green in July 2007. Cllr Reardon did not respond to these questions.There was a moving moment when Peter Cormack, the world renowned curator at William Morris Gallery, who the Council have just made redundant - asked if he was able to speak. Mr Cormack has been put under a gagging order imposed on him by the Council for 9 months. Peter spoke briefly dispelling the Council’s claims that only 20% of visitors to the gallery are local and confirming that the Council has sacked 80% of the staff of William Morris and Vestry House Museum. Since Peter has been curator at the gallery he has introduced many successful contemporary shows including the excellent current exhibition by Mark Hampson - all with little financial support from the Council. When Peter finished speaking the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Friday 12 October
You are warmly invited to attend a Public Meeting at which the London Borough of Waltham Forest will - after nine months - finally present its plans for the future of the William Morris Gallery and Vestry House Museum, following its decision earlier this year to dispense with specialist curators and to reduce opening hours.
The presentation by councillors and senior officers will be followed by an open discussion.
The meeting will be at:
7.30pm at the Greenleaf Road Baptist Church, Greenleaf Road, Walthamstow E17
Please attend, and forward the messages on to other interested parties.
Please read the sad news in the local paper about the loss of specialist jobs at William Morris Gallery and Vestry House Museum in Jobs gone in cull of culture. The local paper reports the world-renowned Morris expert and the gallery’s keeper for 30 years Peter Cormack has lost his job in the reshuffle, as well as his deputy Amy Gaimster and David Pracy, librarian at Vestry House Museum. Read the whole article.
There’s a great exhibition at William Morris Gallery until 29 October 2007.Mark Hampson has been the “artist in residence” at the Gallery for the past year this exhibition is the culmination of his stay. Mark is Senior Tutor in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art and has held acclaimed exhibitions of his work in London, New York, Tokyo, Stockholm and elsewhere.For more information see the gallery’s website.Opening Times
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-1pm, 2-5pm First Sunday of each month 10am-1pm, 2-5pmAdmission free
There are still some tickets available for the Victorian Society’s lecture ‘ The William Morris Gallery and the Brangwyn Gift’ on Monday 29 October 6.30pm to 8pm - the previous lecture sold out, and the lecture on 13 November has also sold out. Download the PDF of the entire lecture series. See their website for more details.
We’ve update this website and changed to a blog system. This will allow us to update the site more quickly, the site will register better with search engines and you will be able to comment on news stories. You’ll notice that some areas - such as the mailing list and photos are yet to be added. Please keep coming back, more news and updates will be posted soon.
The Liberal Democrat group in Waltham Forest Council are inviting you to become involved in a major consultation on the future running of cultural facilities in the borough.
To get involved, share your views on the future direction of our museums and libraries and to take part in this consultation, please contact the ben.wright@walthamforest.g